For a piece of furniture Huib was making for a client, he needed some gemstones. He looked for Margreet, found her at her big desk in the hobby room and told her he was going to Danielle’s to find some matching gemstones.

"For that cabinet with all those drawers?" she asked.

"Yes those, I consulted with the client, suggested making knobs like this on your desk. I forwarded some photos of it. She absolutely loved it, she really likes gemstones and would like red jasper or ruby, she loves those. I will try to feel there which one I should take and then forward some photos of that to ask her which she prefers."

"Handy huh, that all that is possible these days. Pick the prettiest one, dear. I'll see what you bought later!"

"Doesn't it bother you that you can't come along? Otherwise, we could take Gloria with us..." Huib thought.

"No way, let's not drag her around unnecessarily. And I don't really mind, I'll see the stones later. Go on, I'm having a great time with my tapestry!"

"Okay, it's going to be particularly beautiful by the way... Wait, I'll take a picture of it right away."

Together they looked at the photo. "It looks great on it!"

"Yes, beautiful! See you later!" and after a big hug and an exuberant wave, Huib took off, leaving Margreet smiling.

.

Huib stepped into the shop, waved briefly to Danielle who was talking to a customer and walked towards the display case where he found the gems last time. However, he noticed that Danielle had changed the shop considerably. She had been making very different products, sculptures and all sorts of figures. Huib remained standing in front of a wire figure, which she had attached to a wall plate in such a way that it looked like it was growing right out of the wall towards him. He looked at it from all sorts of angles. It was made of metal wires, on which she had attached gemstones as if they were leaves and flowers. He experienced it as impressive, a new, powerful piece of work, which seemed to suit her even more than jewellery.

Huib walked on to the next piece of art, for which she had used wood. He heard a soft cough behind him and turned around.

"Ha, Danielle, how impressive what you have hanging and standing here! Really super powerful! All your own work?"

"Hey Huib, yes, all my work. I had been searching for quite some time for more, a form in which I could express more than in jewellery, although I must say I still make jewellery. It's not that I don't like it anymore, but I needed something in addition to that."

"If you were to look deep into your heart," Huib concurred with her, "then those figurines are more your basic thing, your core, and the jewellery is a nice distraction with it. Does that click?"

"Absolutely, that's exactly how it is! Jewellery is fine, but those figurines are totally awesome. I can put even more creativity into it, and I enjoy that so much that I sometimes forget that I also need to eat or sleep... Sometimes I really am a bit close to burnout, or at least feel overtired."

"What would you love to do the most? Love to do the most, as if you didn't have to consider anything else?" asked Huib, imperceptibly encouraging her to feel deeper with his questions.

"If I can dream for a moment... I would only want to be busy creating, especially those figurines, and jewellery besides. But yes, dreaming is nice, but I don't see an immediate solution yet. By the way, I would also prefer to move, to a detached house. The house itself doesn't have to be big, but with a large room attached to it in which I can work. And a big room as a stockroom. But as great as all that seems... I also need to be able to sell my work!"

"Can there also be a temporary in-between? Keeping your shop on for the time being, but opening less often, and finding another way you can also sell, so that you don't suffer financially?"

"I have thought about that too, then I would have to create a web shop. That would take too much time for me. Not only setting up and maintaining something like that, but also the correspondence you'd have. I don't know..." she sighed.

"Can I show you something on your computer?" asked Huib.

Danielle furrowed her brow questioningly. "Yep, what do you want to show me then?"

"Our website, super simple."

He typed in the link and showed her the different pages. "If you would like to start slowly, I can add a page for just your figurines, for example. We can always add your jewellery later, but that seems to be more difficult already because of the sizes. That just involves more. But if I can take photos of your figurines, or if you want to do that yourself and then send them to me, I can arrange the rest for you. All I need with the photos then are the overall dimensions, height, width, depth, and the prices you ask for them. You can then just keep them here in your shop, while people can also email via the website. As for that correspondence, we could see if Margreet or our friend Lisa would like to take that on. Then people mail to her, where necessary she consults with you, and final decisions she passes on to you. So, if someone wants to buy something, she emails you the number of the artwork and that person's email address. Something like that, this is just what comes to mind. Think about it, then I'll ask Margreet and Lisa if they are up for this correspondence. It's not exactly their heart thing, I know, but for temporarily, on top of it... And if not, I could still ask the ladies who live in The Shelter. But I wouldn't ask them until I'm sure you have a click with it."

Danielle stood nodding while she listened. "I do have a click with it, it actually gives me hope that I will be able to focus more on what is really important to me. But what possibilities would there be in the future? Actually, I would like to completely disconnect the shop from my work, so that I can only focus on the creative side. But selling everything through the website... that seems like quite something."

Huib understood her desire, but also did not yet see how he could solve it completely, and told her so. He promised her he would think about it further, talk to Margreet and the rest of the family about it, hoping to find out who he could ask for that correspondence.

"In fact, Simon, my mother's partner, got an intense impression recently about a gallery of our stuff, and not just ours, but of more artists. It feels like a certainty to me that you will be one of them. So, if that gallery eventually becomes a reality, you could be in it. We will then need someone to do our correspondence and sales anyway, who will get a share of the proceeds as a salary. Simon called our website our temporary digital gallery. I think, once that gallery is in place, our employee who will do the correspondence will also need to use a website in the process. All artworks by artist on a bigger website, bigger than this one. Joh, Danielle, ideas just bubble up. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Just let me know if you get more ideas or want to use part of our website. But for now, right now I need red gems for a cabinet with drawers and doors. Remember those knobs you made those tiger eye stones on? My client absolutely loves that idea, and wants red jasper or rubies on there."

Danielle shot into laughter. "Let's switch gears! Those red stones are here nowadays."

"Do you mind if I just take a picture of both types and send it to my customer so she can choose?"

"Sure, do that!"

And while Huib was busy, taking photos and making contact with his customer, Danielle took out her mobile to take photos of her artworks. There were already seven of them. She took photos from all sorts of angles and wrote on a note what the sizes and prices were. While Huib was talking to his customer, he saw what she was working on. He smiled, pleased that he could help Danielle get started a bit.

He bought the red jasper stones, learning from Danielle the easiest way to attach them in the buttons, so that she did not have to worry about such things but could enjoy working on her new creations. Danielle promised to send him all the photos and details and thanked him warmly for his efforts.

"Nothing is better than finding the right people together. Our art and your art are powerful to those around us. We will continue, Danielle, doing the things we really love!"

"Wow, you have really given me hope!"

To chapter 28. The digital gallery is taking shape

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